Russian test fire of intercontinental missile failed
Tuesday morning the Russian Navy conducted a test launch of the new “Bulava” sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile. The test ended in failure.
Early Tuesday morning a “Bulava” missile was launched from the Typhoon class nuclear submarine “Dmitry Donskoy” from the White Sea. A source in the Belomorsk naval base told news agency RIA Novosti that the missile left the submarine’s launch tube as it should, but that it never managed to reach its flight path.
According to news agency INTERFAX, the missile self-destructed, exploding in the air. The Russian Navy has appointed a commission to analyze the test results.
This was the tenth “Bulava” test launch, and the fifth that ends with failure. The previous launch, on November 28, was the first fully successful test of the missile, and First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov optimistically declared that Russia would start serial production of the weapon.
The Bulava carries the NATO reporting name SS-NX-30. It is based on the SS-27 (Topol M), but is both lighter and more sophisticated.
The first submarine to be equipped with Bulava missiles, is the Borey-class nuclear-powered submarine “Yury Dolgoruky”, which is currently undergoing sea trials. It will be equipped with 16 Bulava ballistic missiles, each carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads and having a range of 8,000 kilometers. Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the “Alexander Nevsky” and the “Vladimir Monomakh”, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant in Arkhangelsk.
